"has/has been"

Hi,
Can I say:
“The record player has changed into the Walkman.”
Or
Should I say:
“The record player has been changed into the Walkman.”
Please comment.
Thanks,
Er.S.M.M.Hanifa

Hi. Neither, because it’s not true. To change into something means to transform. The record player did not become a cassette player. You may want to consider “cassette player” as a more accurate substitute.

I’ll first offer this:

The record player has been abandoned for/replaced with the Walkman.

But since this statement would seem out-of-touch from 1995 onward, I’ll offer this:

The record player lost to the cassette player, the cassette player to the CD player and the CD player to the MP3 player.

That would sound better if we omitted “player,” but the meaning would slightly change since the CD itself is still very much alive if in decline.

Or simply

The record player was replaced by the Walkman.

The present perfect makes this sound recent, and it surely isn’t. If you want it to be up to date, I recommend the second sentence. If you want to deal only with the Walkman and record player, I recommend the third.